Libby Pretrial Hearing Could Offer New Clues in CIA Leak Investigation
June 12, 2006— -- A pretrial hearing today in the government's case against Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, could provide hints and clues in the ongoing investigation of former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and reveal new details in the CIA leak investigation.
Much speculation has focused on Rove's role in the investigation of conversations he had with Libby and reporters at the center of the case.
Scooter Libby is due to appear before Judge Reggie Walton, along with special counsel Pat Fitzgerald and the Libby defense team, to discuss several issues in the case, which is set to go to trial in January 2007.
Libby was charged in the CIA leak case in October 2005 for lying to a federal grand jury and investigators about how he came to know the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA employee married to former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson. Plame's name was published by political columnist Robert Novak in July 2003, and Fitzgerald was appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate the matter later that year.
The investigation centered on a plot to discredit Wilson, who disputed claims made by President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union Address that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from Niger. Government investigators and Fitzgerald have looked closely at discussions among administration officials after Wilson wrote a July 6, 2003, New York Times op-ed that disputed the administration's intelligence claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Monday's hearing will examine the status of materials requested by the Libby defense to help the defense prepare for the trial. The Libby defense suffered a setback earlier this month when Walton denied many of the wide-ranging documents Libby had requested from government agencies, saying the documents did not relate to the perjury or obstruction of justice charges against him.
In his June 2 ruling, Walton said "documents and information which may have bearing on the accuracy or inaccuracy of the president's statement on that topic --
